Celestials and Deserters
by Midnight Reverist
Summary: AILE, Humanity's last line of defense against the Fallen... will they succeed? read and find out.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

One late afternoon, two children were playing in a public playground when one of them notices something directly above them.

"Hey, look! It has big wings!"

"Yeah! It looks like an angel!"

Then, another one appears, this time, with black wings.

"Look, it's another one!" the little boy points.

Above them, the two entities charged at each other. The two fought as black and white feathers fell on the two children like snow.

"It's beautiful!" the little girl said as she caught a white feather.

"Well, yeah."

Suddenly, the two winged beings started to dive towards them. In a desperate attempt to win, the black winged being grabbed the other and dived downwards at more than twice the speed of sound. They both crashed between the two children, sending them flying a few meters away from the site of impact. On its final act, the black winged being destroyed itself, taking the white-winged with him. A few minutes later, authorities came to investigate the explosion which they thought was a terrorist attack. Instead of finding remains of a bomb, they found a crater about ten meters wide and the two children a few meters outside the crater's rim, opposite to each other. The two children were seriously injured and sustained quite a lot of third degree burns. They were brought to the nearest hospital. When they were brought to the emergency room, the doctors said that they could do nothing and even the most advanced technology could only extend their lives for less than a week, until they eventually perish.


	2. 1st Feather:Blue Stratos

1st Feather : Blue Stratos

Ten years later…

A girl named Kayley was driving her Altis from school when her phone started to ring.

"Umm… Hello?" she answers the phone.

"Listen, Kayley, we have a runaway armored van. I need you to stop it before it enters the countryside." The voice on the phone said.

"I understand…How do I do that?"

"Do whatever it takes, but don't try to block it with the Altis, you'll only endanger yourself. That is an armored vehicle, blocking would only slow it down."

"Alright." Kayley puts down the phone and drives towards the location of the van.

A few minutes later, Kayley eventually catches up with the armored van. She drives her car to the van's side and tried to push it off the road. She tries several times but to no avail. Instead, she was the one getting pushed off the road, with less than two feet on both sides before she got squeezed between the road barriers and the van. The distance was getting smaller as she was trying to find a way and when she was about to get totaled, a dark-blue Stratos appeared from behind and pushes the Altis forward fast enough to get the Stratos in front of the van and behind the Altis. They reached a curve towards the left, and since the van had to turn slowly to the right in order to squeeze the Altis, it crashed into the concrete barrier, knocking out its driver. The Stratos and the Altis turned around towards the van. Both of the drivers got off when Kayley notices the print on the side of the Stratos.

"AILE…He's from AILE too…" she said to herself as she walked towards the driver of the Stratos.

"What were you doing! I had everything under control!" she shouted at him.

"If you had everything under control, why were you almost squashed by that armored van?" he asked her.

"It was…part of my plan!"

"Whatever!"

There argument was cut short when a mini-bus with the same AILE print stopped near them. A man wearing an officer's uniform disembarked and talked to them.

"Commander Ganef, it's you!" the driver of the Stratos said.

"Oh, hi Zeal!" Ganef said as he gave Zeal a bear-hug.

"Ganef! What do I look like? A pillow? You nearly broke my back!" Zeal said as he held his aching back.

"Oh, sorry. You just remind me of my little brother! I used to do that to him everytime I see him." He said as he scratched his head.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not your brother!"

"Umm… Did I miss something?" Kayley asked cluelessly.

"Oh, Kayley. I see you met your new partner, Zeal Levanter."

"What! Him! My partner! No way!" she gets on the Altis and drives away.

"Is she always like that?" he asked Ganef.

"Only when she doesn't complete a mission."

"Oh boy…"


	3. 2nd Feather:The First Attack

2nd Feather : The First Attack

Days have passed since Zeal and his Stratos joined the team. There were a couple of runaways and a few minor chases, but everything was normal. It was a hot Sunday afternoon and there was absolutely nothing fun to do. Kayley was doing a little upgrade on her Altis while Zeal was just watching TV. It went on for hours when the on-board computer of the Altis and the Stratos received a transmission from AILE.

"Finally!" Zeal shouted as he got on his car and drove towards the city.

"Alright! I can test the upgrades!" Kayley jumped into the car and drove from one side of the town to the other.

Inside the garage, the two of them went to the same door at the same time.

"What are you doing here! This is my mission!" Kayley yelled at Zeal.

"I should ask you the same thing!" Zeal yelled.

"I can handle this! You can go home!"

"After what happened with that armored van incident? Stop joking!"

Kayley was speechless as she remembered being unable to stop the van. In her mind, their past missions flashed back one by one, most of which Zeal was the hero and she was the zero. She just clenched her fists and was about to cry when his hand landed on her shoulder.

"Relax. We shouldn't do this. We're teammates here. Come on. We have a mission. I can't do this alone." He said as he smiled at her.

Kayley was blushing, angry, frustrated, sad and a lot more… mixed emotions in short.

"Come on. If you just stand there, I'll leave you!" Zeal said as he opened the door.

"I thought you can't do it alone."

"I'll have no choice if you stayed there."

She gives a nod and walked with him towards the main room.

At the main room, the two of them were given a seat as the screen turned on and Ganef walked to the front.

"Listen you two, we have a sabotaged train at our hands. It's currently moving at 280 kph heading northwest. It is 200 less than 110 kilometers from the end of the track. You have to get there and stop it at least a kilometer before the end."

"Can't they just stop the supply of power?"

"They can, but that would put civilians living in that area in mortal danger. That thing is carrying a nuclear warhead. It is being levitated by a series of powerful magnets on all sides, ensuring that no strong impact shall befall it. Cutting off the power would disable the magnets and leave it vulnerable enough to an impact that could detonate it. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but how do we stop it?"

"You need to connect the backup OS. The train has its own backup OS but it was deleted by the saboteurs. You need to bring this laptop there and upload the OS." Ganef gives Kayley the laptop.

"We should leave. We don't have much time." Kayley said to Zeal.

"Alright."

After that, they both drove off to stop the nuke-train.


	4. 3th Feather:Celestial?

3rd Feather : Celestial?

After a few minutes, they caught up with the train after being given permission to drive on the tracks.

"Hey Einstein! How are we supposed to get aboard? Kayley asked through the computer.

"We jump! Set the cruise control at 280 kph. Program the car to deactivate it after 5 minutes. That should give us time to jump aboard." Zeal replied.

"Whatever you say! If this fails, I'll kill you!"

"Don't worry! It won't!"

So they did it. They set the cruise control at 280 kph for 5 minutes. They drove to the left side of the train and forced the doors open. Zeal jumped first. Kayley was next, so he prepared to catch her. She jumped but her foot slipped, causing her to fall on Zeal and the laptop caught by Zeal before he fell as well. They opened their eyes and noticed that their faces were millimeters from touching. This brought a blush to both of their silly faces.

"Umm…sorry…" Kayley said, still staying on top of Zeal.

"Momantay…Are you alright?" Zeal said as calmly as possible.

"Yup. Thanks."

There was a moment of silence. They were still unable to break away from the staredown when Zeal decided to speak up.

"If we don't stop doing this, we'll be nuked!"

"I..I know!"

"Let's go to the front car. We have to start the upload."

"Stop bossing me around Zeal! You're not my boss!"

"Who said I was your boss?"

"Grrr…come on!" Kayley stomped her way to the front car.

"Now who's bossy?"

At the front car, they connected the laptop to the train's main computer. The upload started and the computer displayed the estimated time of upload.

"30 minutes? We don't have that much time!"

"There's no need to tell me! I'm not stupid!"

Just as the argument was heating up, something crashed into the storage car holding the nuke, causing the train to vibrate violently.

"What was that!"

"I don't know. Stay here Kayley, I'll see what it is."

"Wait! I'm going with you!"

"You have to stay! Finish the upload."

"Stop being so bossy!"

"Stop being so arrogant!"

Zeal ran towards the storage car holding the nuke. He opened the door and saw a black winged being under the large hole in the roof.

"Who are you?…What are you?"

"I am Sanguine, a Deserter as you can see."

"What are you doing here?"

"Simple, blow up this nuke. I always love a beautiful fireworks display."

"What will you accomplish by doing that?"

"I will be entertained."

"Even if many would die!"

"That just adds to the excitement."

"I won't let you do that!"

Zeal gave Sanguine a punch. Although Zeal was stronger and faster than most humans, his punch had no effect on him.

"Is that all you got?"

"No…" he said, trying to act tougher.

"How pathetic. Very well, I guess it's my turn."

He punched Zeal in the gut, sending him flying through the cars of the train until he eventually flew out the train via the rear windshield. Realizing he will hit the tracks in a few seconds at 280 kph, he closed his eyes and thought that his death would be quick but painless.

"This will be over quickly." He sighed and waited for his doom.

Seconds later, he opened his eyes and wondered why he could still hear his heart's beat. He looked around and saw that everything except him had stopped. The train stood still, the wind was gone, the shattered glass were floating in mid-air. It was getting darker and darker until all light was gone.

"So, this is how dying feels like. It seems that time has stopped."

Then, a beam of light tore a hole through the darkness and was shining on him. He opened his eyes and he could hear a mysterious yet familiar voice that makes him feel fear and comfort at the same time.

"No, you will not yet die…" the voice said,"…you will live Seth, you will live…"

At the moment the voice faded away, his body moved on its own. It shifted to an upright position, his eyes turned red. White liquid gushed out of his back and solidified, forming two angelic wings.

"What just happened to me?"

As he was stunned by what happened, time slowly returned to its normal pace.

**A/N:** the hearing the heart thing was just a sign that he was alive. I don't know if you could really hear your heart when in complete silence.


	5. 4th Feather:Mission Accomplished?

4th Feather : Mission Accomplished?

Back in the storage car, Sanguine was busy with the warhead when he heard a voice.

"Sanguine, your time has come…"

"Shut up!" he replied, trying to figure out who was talking to him.

"You cannot change what is bound to be…Destiny is at its course… one who is appointed by the heavens will come and smite you."

"Shut up, Nathaniel!" he shouted, finally realizing who was talking to him.

He waited, but there was no response. He laughed as he thought that he had actually won against one of the mighty Seraphs. He looked up through the hole and started shouting.

"See, Nathaniel! I am still alive! I will never die!" he kept on shouting until he was disturbed by another voice.

"Stop shouting! No one would want to listen to a parrot like you." Zeal said as he was flying parallel to the train, acting as if he was a completely different person.

"So, you're alive. Even after falling off a train…what the heck…it figures…you are a Celestial, after all."

He waited, but there was no reply. Instead, he went into the train and stood meters away from Sanguine.

"Alright, Celestial, I have two options for you. One, you fight me and this train goes kaboom, or two, you save the train, then I'll kill you."

He waited, but there was no answer. Instead, he walked slowly towards Sanguine when he suddenly pushed a button on the warhead. The warhead started its 5 minute countdown to self-detonation.

"Looks like you don't have a choice now, don't you?" Sanguine said while flying out through the hole. Zeal walked towards the bomb and started to think on ways how to stop it.

At the front car, Kayley was starting to get bored and nervous.

"This is taking too long! At this rate, we'll be part of the deadliest fireworks display!" she said to herself as she went to look for Zeal. She opened the door to the second car and found a Deserter.

"Oh, hello there. Looking for someone?" the Deserter said.

"Umm…yes…" feeling scared, "I'm looking for my partner."

"Oh, him. The boy that I just threw out the train a few minutes ago."

"What!"

"I did, but somehow, he survived." He said as he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up with a single hand.

"Gee…I wonder what he'll do if he found out that I killed you to you.", his grip tightened.

"Zeal…" she managed to whisper before she struggled for another breath. Then a thought crossed her mind.

'Hmm…I wonder what he'll do?' she thought to herself, 'he is quite strong but he won't stand a chance against this guy.' the grip on her throat got tighter 'Zeal? Where are you?' her vision started to blur and she was about to faint when she felt herself hit the floor and found that she could breathe again. She opened her eyes and saw the Deserter getting a dose of his own medicine. Sanguine was held in mid-air by a single hand.

"You called?" the Celestial asked.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Can't you tell?" he turned around and faced her.

"Zeal…it's you…"

"Of course I am…who did you expect? Superman!"

"You look different…"

Then, the deserter interrupted the conversation.

"So, you decided to fight me after all…"

"There's no need to fight. Your last minute has come."

After Zeal finished talking, Sanguine experienced a flashback.

_Flashback_

"_You cannot change what is bound to be…Destiny is on its course…one who is appointed by the heavens will come to smite you…"_

_End of flashback_

He opened his eyes again and saw Zeal's hand radiating a bright white light.

"I see… so, you are the appointed one of the heavens, the Celestial called 'Seth' which means 'appointed'…"

Zeal's hand glowed brighter exponentially until it reached a point that the light could go through solid steel.

"Corrupt evil spirit, judgment has been passed…now, thou shall be annihilated by holy light!"

Zeal drove his hand into Sanguine's chest. Upon contact, Sanguine's body shattered crystals that were so fine, they looked like powder.

"Shall we go, Kayley?" he offered his hand to her.

"But… what about the warhead?" she took his hand.

"Oh, that…I separated it from the rest of the train. It will stop in a few seconds… as for the warhead...let's just say it will never explode…" he said 'Gee, I hope removing all the wires solved the problem.'

"Alright, let's go…"

they went to the door and prepared to bail when they suddenly remembered that they were still moving at 280 kph.

"I forgot. The train's still moving." He said as he blushed a bit, remembering that they were still holding hands.

"So, how do we get off?"

"We jump…"


End file.
